News

A team of researchers from the UK and Russia have successfully demonstrated that a type of ‘magic dust’ which combines light and matter can be used to solve complex problems and could eventually surpass the capabilities of even the most powerful supercomputers.

The most in-depth species survey to date finds an “astonishing array” of plant diversity in the global botanic garden network, including 41% of all endangered species. However, researchers find a significant imbalance between tropical and temperate plants, and say even more capacity should be given to conservation, as there is “no technical reason for plant species to become extinct”.

New research reveals for the first time the most likely months and routes for the spread of new strains of airborne ‘wheat stem rust’ that may endanger global food security by ravaging wheat production across Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the wider world.

War diaries, scrapbooks, letters and photographs belonging to Sir John Cockcroft, Nobel Prize winner and one of the most influential scientists of the modern era, will today be placed in the care of the Churchill Archives Centre.

In the centenary year of the publication of a seminal treatise on the physical and mathematical principles underpinning nature – On Growth and Form by D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson – a Cambridge physicist has led a study describing an elegantly simple solution to a puzzle that has taxed biologists for centuries: how complex branching patterns of tissues arise.

The UK is investing £65 million in a flagship global science project based in the United States that could change our understanding of the universe, securing the UK’s position as the international research partner of choice. Professor Mark Thomson from the University of Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory has been the elected co-leader of the international DUNE collaboration since its inception and is the overall scientific lead of this new UK initiative.

Researchers have quantified the astonishingly high speeds at which future solar cells would have to operate in order to stretch what are presently seen as natural limits on their energy conversion efficiency.

Researchers have used genome editing technology to reveal the role of a key gene in human embryos in the first few days of development. This is the first time that genome editing has been used to study gene function in human embryos, which could help scientists to better understand the biology of our early development.

Cambridge start-up Simprints, awarded $2.45 million in new grant money, targets the developing world with fingerprinting technology to help deliver healthcare to 1.1 billion people with no formal identification.

Footballers in flashy cars, City workers in Armani suits, reality TV celebrities sipping expensive champagne while sitting in hot tubs: what drives people to purchase luxury goods? New research suggests that it may be a sense of being a ‘winner’ – but that contrary to expectations, it is not driven by testosterone.